How To Buy Videogames and Consoles

But first, one thing on the variance of Scrabble:  talking with Mark Nau, apparently experts agree that Scrabble is much closer to chess than poker in its variance.  That explains why my wife beats me 80% of the time.  She'd be ranked a couple hundred points higher than me if we joined a club.  So there's really no need to have a 'duplicate scrabble' - and people who wank about 'not picking' and getting 'double blanked' are just that.  Wankers.

Just received a PSP as a gift.  I'm looking through gamerankings for games to buy for it and none really excite me.  Sorted by user reviews, the top games are race games (which I'm not particularly into), twisted metal, and Lumines.  And then we start getting to the point where the ratings are only average.  Which is why I haven't bought a PSP yet:  generally I wait for that killer app to come along, and then buy the console and the game.  It's like buying a game for $350.  I bought a PS2 for Ico;  I bought a Gamecube for Zelda;  I bought an Xbox for Splinter Cell.  Future games for the consoles are gravy.  If more people practiced this behavior, the console wars might have turned out different.

And that's another thing.  You shouldn't buy games based on non-game licenses unless they're good.  Star Wars and The Incredibles and Spongebob games sell like hotcakes, even though they're usually mediocre.  I feel sorry for the people who are suckered into buying and playing these.  Look it up in gamerankings.com before you buy.  Use the user voting average rather than the critic's reviews because there are fewer sample size problems and less critic bias.  (I wish there was a moviepig.com for games, but until then gamerankings is a pretty awesome resource.)  And, if you think you might like the game despite the negative reviews (I sure do love me that *Galleon*, for example), rent it first!  Gamefly.com is absolutely brilliant, a must-have subscription for a game developer.  Or player.

If more people practiced this behavior, we'd have fewer crappy licensed games and more Zeldas.

Of course, if the licensed game actually is good, like Spider-Man 2 (if I do say so myself) or Republic Commando, knock yourself out.

Comments

[Adam Vandenberg]

I haven't bought a Nintendo DS for the same reason: No killer app. And I'm probably behind on my GBA buying anyway (Minish Cap?)

Quote: "I feel sorry for the people who are suckered into buying and playing these."

This is why I can't pay attention to conversations in videogame stores. A lot of them are parents/grantparents/other relations picking out a crap game, or clerks pushing them on same.

[Despayre]

Speaking of gamefly, I usually trust the gamefly ratings. There havent been many low-rated games I've liked from there even though I thought I would due to the genre of the game (I'm looking at YOU Shining Tears..and you too Stella Deus)

Gamefly has also led me to try out games I never thought I would like (Ace Combat 5) because of their high ratings, and also kept me from dropping 20-50 bucks more than once for yet another crappy sports game.

I only wish their turnaround time was as fast as Netflix.

[A. Jacobson]

I bought the Gamecube for Zelda and Metroid Prime. Ico almost bought me the PS2, but it was Katamari Damacy that pushed me over the edge. I haven't picked up an Xbox yet, for the following reasons: most killer app Xbox titles are also released multi-platform or on the PC, I already have more top-shelf titles than I have time to play, and I enjoy the fact that so far, there is at least one area where technology touches my life that isn't tainted by Microsoft (sadly, all indicators point to my buying an Xbox 360 at launch, one again for a handful of likely killer apps).

GameFly is most definitely a godsend for console gamers. I'll bet I get at least $200 worth of gameplay experiences for only about $30 a month, and none of that money is wasted.

[Adam Vandenberg]

Hmm... possible DS killer app on the horizon: http://gamespot.com/ds/puzzle/katamaridamacy/index.html

[Telka!]

Does anyone go off of instinct anymore? Do you think it is a valuable tool? Maybe I'm old fashioned but I go off my gut for a lot of games, and it rarely fails me. I do try other games but they are usually based off of recomendations from people I trust. At least if I don't like it, I can have an intelligent conversation about my cons.

I have learned to ignore most online reviews though. I feel like I'm reaching into a jar of Mexican Jumping Beans trying to find an honest one (and someone who knows what they are talking about... but then again... I have a huge beef on how most people write reviews anyways).

[Aaron]

Telka!, I go according to my gut. In my experience; if you read about a game and this information leads you to anticipate the game, then chances are good that you'll enjoy the end result. Sometimes execution falters, or the media put a spin on the game making you think it was something entirely different than it really was, but as you said; the so called "gut istinct" rarely fails. This is, of course, assuming my idea of a gut instinct is the same as yours.

I think there is also some sort of defense mechanism to protect us from feeling bad about paying for a game we don't actually like as much as we thought we would. If the game doesn't live up to our expectations, then we tend to focus on the strong points and make arguments in our minds to support our purchase. This is definitely just a wild guess on my part, but maybe it's part of the reason the gut instinct tends to seem to work so well?

[blah]

Wow, this is some really surprising and deep advice: "Don't buy bad games - only buy good games! Read reviews to figure out what games are good!"

[Jamie Fristrom]

You know, maybe it's not deep, but it's surprising how few people do it, otherwise sales would be more strongly correlated with review scores. Of course, people who read this blog probably are a little more savvy than the people who are buying Jedi Knight sight unseen - but somebody did just comment the other day about playing it and it leaving him cold. It makes you want to ask, "What did you expect?" I don't know, maybe he rented.

[Paul Du Bois]

Hey, Jedi Knight was a great game.

[Obi Busta Nobi]

I was looking on Gamerankings to see if some of Jamie's comments could be dispelled, but it seems this time he's dead on...

Most licensed games aren't that great (none make the elusive 90% range). And, it seems the critics agree with Jamie, Spider-Man 2 was a "good" game with an average score of 82%.

In alphabetical order (PS2 versions) -

Catwoman - 48%
Hulk - 70%
Incredibles - 63%
LOTR: Return of the King - 85%
Spider-Man 2 - 82%
Sponge Bob - 74%
Star Wars Ep. III - 68%

So, was it the license or the game that contributed to the game's success or failure? Why couldn't any of these games get past that 90% mark? And, what should future movie/game license holders be wary of for future titles?

[Jare]

Some reasons for poor license conversions:

- all the money goes into the license

- development schedule is too short due to a late start

- the designers don't (or can't) care much because they are severely tied by the licensor

I think Spiderman 2 and RotK were sequels to previous games, and thus got a decent design / codebase / process to build on.

[Jamie Fristrom]

Oh yeah, Jedi Knight was a great game. I meant Episode 3. I should stop blogging before I say something really stupid.

[Jamie Fristrom]

Oh, and for license game problems, it's #2, dev schedule too short, totally. I know from experience. Think of all your favorite games: most of them probably missed their initial ship date. (Half-Life, Halo, Zelda.) That's usually not an option for licensed titles. (Or non-licensed titles, for that matter, publishers and retailers being what they are.)
Also, Goldeneye, the "best licensed title evar", missed its ship date by a great deal.
Something Tomo said a couple days ago: "They made a movie out of Goldeneye?"
Tomo's awesome.

[Obi Busta Nobi]

Yay! Does that mean Spider-Man 3 will be a huge success due to the long dev schedule? Oh! And, Tomo is awesome, but he needs to get out more. ;o)